Durham County Council have started a pioneering new project to recycle used medical equipment.

The innovative scheme had a successful test period in spring and now the project has been extended to three more sites.

The council have teamed up with Medequip and HW Martin Ltd for the initiative which allows people to bring equipment they no longer use to three of the local authority’s Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) for possible reuse.

The three new sites which will now be available to the public to bring used medical equipment are at Potterhouse Lane at Pity Me, Seaham and Romanway at Bishop Auckland HWRCs.

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Chris Hood, an independent councillor in Durham, hopes that reusing equipment in this new way will reduce the strain on the NHS.

He said: “We greatly value our joint working with our health partners through the County Durham Care Partnership and we know there is great cost in the provision of new medical and care equipment for people.

“This scheme thereby helps reduce that cost by allowing equipment to be reused wherever possible.”

People have been bringing a variety of equipment to the site from walking frames to crutches and aids to help people sit in the bath.

Durham County Council hopes to roll the scheme out to all of its recycling centres in future.

 Councillor Mark Wilkes, a Liberal Democrat representative in Durham, explained that the cutting edge scheme would also be highly beneficial to the environment.

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He said: “We are delighted that we are able to support this initiative through hosting these new facilities at our Household Waste Recycling Centres.

“Any scheme that allows materials to be reused rather than go to waste has to be good for the environment and we are pleased to be rolling it out at three more of our sites.

“This project is a great example of what can be achieved when officers and councillors from different parts of the authority work together and with our partner organisations.”